“…and may she have eternal peace. Amen.”

 

Jacob rolled up his sleeves and picked the dusty spade from off the ground and started to dig where the Apple has fallen.

 

******************

 

The Apple fell three feet from the tree and two feet from where Jacob and Maria where lying, stark naked. They were sweating and the full moon played the beady sweats formed on their bodies like a xylophone emitting tiny sounds of high pitched light with every movement, glistening. The ground where they slept was damp with the dew, and with the steam of their beings; their hearts were boiling over through their lungs and the more that they try to stop the imminent outflow of this, their being’s steam, the louder were their screams and the more unusual the sounds from the vocal chords knowing only speech and song. Indeed, it can be said, that they are singing in tandem, as if performing a duet with the full moon backing an orchestra of stars and other eminent guests; like the comets, and the more in-haste falling stars providing the cymbal climax, now and then.

 

It was Maria who first noticed the Red fruit drop.

 

She was kissing Jacob, and was being grateful for all the intense emotions that she felt and now was coming to the point where the world, the trees, the sweet sound of insects, and the full moon and stars, that she so loved, would become insignificant for a few seconds, when she would, at this imminent point, dive into her inner self, and there, detach all of this superficial trappings called the self, and become one with the Sweet Vertigo. She knew this feeling very well, and prepared, as would a bungee jumper. She slowly closed her eyes and gathered all the colors, as if reminiscing a home she’d be leaving. The green from trees, the silver from the blade tips of grasses, the brown of dear Jacob’s skin, the orange from fruits, the pinks from flowers, she would gather them and swirl with  them around in a black hole; the intensity of her emotions will  pull the black hole’s center into a vortex, and all the colors will sink with her, mixing and whirling like a cyclone; all the colors, one by one, merge; until the imminent moment of cataclysmic explosion, and all the colors would become white, as she opens her eyes, the universe will once again be reborn, and all the slight bitterness she might have had, totally disappears, and the world would be all right again.

 

Maria, as she was preparing herself, saw the Red fruit drop.

 

She smiled and was quietly overjoyed that finally a Red has joined her into her journey. She gathered the Red from the Apple and took it with her. She feels Jacob’s lips kissing her breasts as his arms were enveloping her, his muscles in a state of tension, as if holding a piece of china; strong, but extremely delicate. His lips brush her nipples from time to time as her body rocks, back and forth, in synchrony to Jacob’s wishes, and his thrusts orchestrate the muscles in Maria’s inner being, and as they body to body, hold on to each other, as each is coming to his and her own cataclysmic explosion. She shut her eyes, and felt Jacob’s arms around her grapple her in constrictor like strength, and his abdominal muscles now quiver, hoping help him get inside Maria deeper, her inner muscles also clench him inside, like long lost friends terribly missing each other.

 

Then she opened her eyes. She was nestled on Jacob’s right side, and was enjoying her new found serenity, promising herself to etch this moment into her mind, and remember it every time she felt lonely and when Jacob was away. She then remembered the Red Apple which gave her so much joy.

 

Maria got up and picked up the Apple from the ground. She called Jacob, who was still prone on the ground; the tender moon’s light ripples against his flat abdomen, as the branches sway with the soft, cool breeze, splashing his nakedness with silver paint, again and again.

 

“What is it, my Love?” Jacob asked, somberly.

 

“Come here, My Love.”

 

Jacob got up and kneeled beside her. She looked into his eyes, and he into hers; the ether cleared from between them and so the thoughts and words penetrated each others consciousness without being distorted.  The Apple was just rightly ripe, Red, and from its plumpness, promised Succulence rivaling grapes and oranges. She held up the apple, and offered it to Jacob.

“This is my love for you. It is as Passionate as Red, and as Sweet as Apples, ever Succulent, ever longing for your lips; to taste it.”

 

Jacob took the Apple from Maria, and ate the Red fruit completely, and did not leave its core, unlike other people who did not understand and appreciate Apples would often do.

 

After eating, he looked up the Apple tree that provides them shelter that tonight, and saw that there were many apple fruits. He climbed up the tree and looked for the Reddest, the fruit that most promised Sweetness and Succulence. He found one, picked it off, and climbed down the tree. He walked to where Maria was still kneeling and observing his movements like a sunflower devotedly follows the Sun. Jacob kneeled beside Maria and offered her the Apple.

 

“This is my Love for you. It is as Passionate as Red, and as Sweet as Apples, ever Succulent, ever longing for your mouth; to devour it.”

 

Maria took the Apple from Jacob, and ate the Red fruit completely, and did not leave its core, unlike other people who did not understand and appreciate Apples, would often do.

 

Jacob was pleased, and beckoned Maria to lie down. And again, side by side, they looked into each other’s eyes, and started kissing each other’s lips, and commenced another cycle by which the world is reborn.

 

*********************

 

            Jacob piled back the earth he has dug into the hole. He was sweating from his brows, chest, and armpits; the soft, cool breeze was not able to convince the fluids to stay inside his flesh. He was not crying. Sorrow had no place beneath this Apple tree, and so he piled every inch of earth he dug back into the whole, and rearranged the uprooted grasses the best he could without shedding tears nor feeling sad. He gathered two twigs laid them perpendicular each other, forming a Cross. He did not bind them together, though, so that the natural surroundings look as untouched as the first time they met under the tree, as if no man has disturbed his, now Holy, Ground.

 

******************

 

            Seven months ago, Jacob cut down apple trees. He then trimmed off the branches, cut it into slabs, and putting them together, turned it into a house. Maria thought it was the most beautiful house she had ever seen, of an Olympic elegance, she would say.  In truth, it was a small house, wooden, and the doors do not snugly fit on the frame, and the window’s shutters do not always close without forceful coaxing. It was a miniature palace, Jacob would say to himself.

The size of the house was indeed of a certain cuteness that rendered it an aura of fairytale. The size wasn’t the attraction of the house, though. It was the sheer monolith of love that it can hold together, for such a frail structure. The small house, with the blessings that accompany true love, made it a castle of sure strength, a citadel against the world, and its roof became a fluff of feathers falling gracefully, lovely, slowly settling on two lovers catching breath.

 

            It became a perfect nest for future babes, a crib for the Child that is to be. Kisses, hugs, exchanges of vows and bodily fluids and sweat, and sweet promises of eternal company echoed throughout the tiny hall of the house.

 

An expectant buzz started in the air, every step they took now was of a giggling child’s excitement on the anticipation of a present. On hours after food-gathering and preparation, they would gaze untiringly into each others wonderful souls, finding out recesses that are yet undiscovered. This pure strain of love was indeed every bit as Passionate, as Succulent, and as Sweet, as the day they first learned of the significance of Red Apples.

 

The Sweetness is spilled on the floor, sometimes, that ants are beckoned into the house by the familiar scent of sugar, but finding nothing, leave the house confused, and fearing that they may be suffering a neurologic problem, seek out the queen’s advise on what to do. The birds and butterflies hovered around the house, sensing sweet nectar flowing. The spiders spun their webs somewhere else, as they dare not bother Maria with cleaning the dust that gather on their webs. They much rather that Jacob and Maria continue the gazing into each other, and the kissing, and the making love, and they watching from afar, can only wish they can become humans and have the cognitive forebrain to understand this love that is happening, because it is more beautiful than any silky web they have dreamt.

           

********************

 

Jacob looked at the Cross, for the last time. He felt as if the Cross and the almost indiscernible mound lacked definition. He thought that there is an eternal permutation of two apple tree twigs and one indiscernible mound in the Universe, and how many of these exact set of things may be lying around in the world as of this moment and the moments in the future that, with the help of rain, wind, animals, hominids, and earthquakes, any set of two apple tree twigs and indiscernible mound may look exactly like the mound of which there is no compare in significance.

 

**********************

 

Maria’s flat abdomen started to grow bigger. The surprised canaries started to sing calmer songs. Jacob was milder in making love; his energies are now better spent in looking for more nutritive foodstuff. He now realized that apples and fruits are not enough, and so he asked cows and goats for milk, the carabaos to till the field where he planned to plant rice and wheat. He was thinking of making bread someday. He asked the chickens for some of their eggs. He dug up some worms, marinated them in saltwater and herbs, and cooked them in olive oil. He also asked the king of locusts and the prince of crickets for some of their number, and they agreed. They sent Jacob their delinquents, and the delinquent locusts and crickets gladly complied. It is their belief that this sacrifice for the nutrition of a pregnant woman and her fetus would atone for their sins and therefore avoid being reborn into a fungus or a worm, the harsh demotion in the hierarchy of life.

 

It is in this way that the seven months passed. And everyone was glad that the world was what it was.

 

************************

 

He was afraid that if he saw other mounds that would vaguely resemble this mound with the loosely fixed Cross, he might always remember this tragic ending of a great, great love that he’ll never ever have again in his entire existence.

 

******************

 

Maria bled a river one morning; this river streamed towards the river outside, staining it Red; and the sea beyond it also became Red; and the sky wept, she bid her brethren to jump down unto the woods, and help wet Jacob’s face that had run out of tears. He was holding with his left hand, a Red baby, the Fruit of Love, that dared introduce meaning into a life that would have been otherwise akin to the life of a common starfish, while on the other, his beloved, the one who consumed his soul, who devoured his love clean, and clean soul joined clean soul that night; eternity is now dead, the equally dramatic, intense, opposite of love, grief, filled his throat with unusual sounds, this time, coming from his innermost bowels.

 

*********************

 

He thought of something that would define it forever but without disturbing the natural scenery that he wanted to preserve. If he fixed the Cross and mounted it, it would introduce an unnatural binding of two naturally free twigs. If he left without doing anything, the next time he saw a similar scene, he will surely die of grief, for in that other place in the future, there wouldn’t be this Apple tree of comfort that sheltered their memories.

 

He thought long and hard, and as the dawn crept gently up his shoulders, he knew he had to leave.

 

Jacob laid the spade on the ground and walked towards the tree. He climbed up the Apple tree and looked for the Reddest, the fruit that most promised Sweetness and Succulence. He found one, picked it off, and climbed down the tree. He walked to where Maria was laid to rest but still observing his movements like a sunflower devotedly follows the Sun. Jacob kneeled beside Maria and offered her the Apple.

 

“This is my Love for you. It is as Passionate as Red, and as Sweet as Apples, ever Succulent, ever longing for your mouth; to devour it.”

 

He took up the spade and once again and beside the Apple Picker, just three feet away from the tree and two feet from where Maria is laid, he dug a whole. This is where, seven months ago, the Apple fell. This is where he will bury it.

 

*****************

 

From the woods where his Apple tree was located he traveled to places previously unexplored. He met women who offered Oranges, Melons, Watermelons, Lemons. Some even offered apples. He passed by all of them, not even heeding exposures of breasts and vulvae, in their vain attempt to lure him.

 

He will roam the world never knowing, touching, nor eating any other Apple. All Apples have rotted and now are buried with the Apple Picker.